The rilke alphabet / Ulrich Baer ; translated by Andrew Hamilton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Baer, Ulrich, author.

Contributor:

Hamilton, Andrew, translator.

Standardized Title:

Rilke-Alphabet. English

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Rilke, Rainer Maria, 1875-1926--Poetry.

Rilke, Rainer Maria.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (264 p.)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Fordham University Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The enduring power of Rainer Maria Rilke’s poetry rests with his claim that all we need for a better life on earth is already given to us, in the here and now. In twenty-six engaging and accessible essays, Ulrich Baer’s The Rilke Alphabet examines this promise by one of the greatest poets in any tradition that even the smallest overlooked word may unlock life’s mysteries to us. Fueled by an unebbing passion and indeed love for Rilke’s poetry, Baer examines twenty-six words that are not only unexpected but also problematic, controversial, and even scandalous in Rilke’s work. In twenty-six mesmerizing essays that eschew jargon and Teutonic learnedness for the pleasures and risks of unflinchingly engaging with a great artist’s genius, Baer sheds new light on Rilke’s politics, his creative process, and his deepest and enduring thoughts about life, art, politics, sexuality, love, and death. The Rilke Alphabet shows how Rilke’s work provides an uncannily apt guide to life even in our vexingly postmodern condition. Whether it is a love letter to frogs, a problematic brief infatuation with Mussolini, a sustained reflection on the Buddha, the evasion of the influence of powerful precursors, or the unambiguous assertion that freedom must be lived in order to be known, Rilke’s writings pull us deeply into life. Baer’s decades-long engagement with Rilke as a scholar, translator, and editor of Rilke’s writings allows him to reveal unique aspects of Rilke’s work. The Rilke Alphabet will surprise and delight Rilke fans, intrigue newcomers to his work, and deepen every reader’s sense of the power of poetry to penetrate the mysteries and confusions of our world.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

List of Abbreviations

Preface: ‘‘The Whole Dictation of Existence’’

Acknowledgments

A for Ashanti

B for Buddha

C for Circle

D for Destiny Disrupted

E for Entrails

F for Frogs

G for God

H for Hair

I for Inca

J for Jew Boy

K for Kafka and King Lear

L for Larean

M for Mussolini

N for Nature

O for O

P for Proletarian

Q for Quatsch

R for Rose

S for Stampa

T for Tower

U for Un-

V for Vagabond, or Being Outside

W for Worm

X for Xaver

Y for Y

Z for Zero

Notes

Works Cited

Index

Notes:

Originally published in German as: Das Rilke-Alphabet. Frankfurt am Main : Suhrkamp, 2006.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780823256310

0823256316

9780823256297

0823256294

9780823256327

0823256324

9780823261338

0823261336

9780823256303

0823256308

OCLC:

878144479